Funky Math

On Monday I'll be 32 weeks pregnant which you would think means 8 months. But I'm due on July 25th so I'm really only seven months along. It's funny how when you go by weeks pregnancy is really 10 months long. Either way I look like I'm due any day now. The good news is that I still feel great and baby is very active and I only waddle on occasion.

Big things are happening at the hotel and at home. We are moving to a new house in mid-June and we are very excited. Of course moving stinks but we will be happy when we are settled into our new space. (I'm ready to start nesting!) We will have a nice, comfy home with a view of the Nicoya Peninsula and a huge piece of land to romp around on. (Mom, ignore the fact that I ended that sentence with a preposition.) The downside is that we are moving farther away from Ryan's new school so I am looking into carpooling options. Ryan is transferring to the Escuala de Amigos next year and I think she is going to have a great time there.

We have been full at the hotel every day. It's supposed to be low season but nobody told our guests that, I guess. We have taken on a number of projects but the biggest one has been installing our internet cafe, going wireless and getting a program written so that we can do reservations and book tours on ipaqs (like palm pilots). It's exciting to be the cutting edge hotel up here but it has certainly been stressful and costly. We have gotten great press, though. We had a live radio show from the Pension and we were interviewed for a few periodicals ... a technology magazine, a hospitality magazine and the newspaper. Cool stuff!

Our ongoing project has been sprucing up the place and it is amazing the difference paint can make! Our beloved Jen painted the rooms and when she left we started painting the ugly brown cement walls in the living room. I said how cool it would be if we could paint a mural on the walls and what do you know--- two days later a traveling artist walks in with his portfolio! So now we have incredible murals in the living room and the shared bathroom. We also have our wonderful flower lamps strung and we will soon put up our new room numbers on the doors. The lamps and numbers were made by Ro and they are fabulous!

Our next project (happening as you read this) is our website, business cards and paper goods. After hiring more than our fair share of flaky web designers we have found two great local guys who are getting our website up and running. After that project is complete and once our new internet and intranet systems are running glitch-free we will take it easy for a while. Our focus will be on getting ready for the newest Smith.

So that's about it... we're all doing well. Ryan gets out of school on June 9th and doesn't go back until mid-August. I will have to tap into my creative supermom to keep her entertained during the holiday. I have started baking banana bread to sell at the hotel and will expand my menu this week. Ran is still very handsome and skinny and despite the stress of being a hotel owner he is loving his lot in life!

Pura Vida